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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22755046">A seal called Wendy</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bastetian/pseuds/Bastetian'>Bastetian</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Scarecrow Series - Matthew Reilly</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fluff, Gen, Reunions, Tooth-Rotting Fluff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 11:02:08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,624</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22755046</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bastetian/pseuds/Bastetian</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Scarecrow meets an old friend in an unlikely place</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A seal called Wendy</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is barely even proof read, but someone mentioned Wendy in a comment on an old fic and I just had to run with it. </p>
<p>For crimson otaku, hope you like it</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Remind me why we’re here again?” Schofield asked, glancing back and forth between Mother and Book II.</p>
<p>One of the benefits of life in the Marine Corps was a chance to travel the world.<br/>
Or at least, that’s what the recruiters said.</p>
<p>In reality, during his sojourns stationed on board various carriers, Schofield had had a whirlwind tour of stark naval dockyards and grimy cargo ports. Currently stationed on board the USS Bataan, he hadn’t minded this particular tour so much. His shoulder, though mostly healed from having a sword shoved in one end and out the other, was still feeling a bit stiff and he was starting to wonder just how much more abuse his body would tolerate before he had to call time on his career. The routine of life on a ship, with its endless hours of standing watch and other mundane tasks, was welcome. There were no bounty hunters, no political coups, no world-ending catastrophes, and especially no weird-ass mythological shit way above his pay grade.</p>
<p>And today, the Bataan was docked in Sydney harbour.</p>
<p>Which was how Schofield and Book II had found themselves being dragged out by Mother, on a rare day when none of them were scheduled for duties. The impressive white-washed stone entrance hall loomed large before them. It was a weekday, so it was quiet. There weren’t many visitors, apart from a few parents pushing small children in prams.<br/>
And a couple of US Marines.</p>
<p>“We’re in Australia,” Mother replied, “I wanna see a fucking kangaroo. And maybe cuddle a koala bear.”  </p>
<p>“You know koalas aren’t bears,” Schofield replied.</p>
<p>Book II added drily, “and they’ve got chlamydia.”</p>
<p>Mother levelled a glare at them that would’ve turned most people’s knees to jelly.<br/>
“Koalas aren’t bears, whales aren’t fish, but you two are still annoying sonofabitches.”</p>
<p>And so they went to the zoo.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A few hours later, Schofield was leaning up against the railing of a viewing platform while Mother and Book II had disappeared off to scout out some lunch. Perched high up on the steep cliff that the zoo was built into, there was an elephant enclosure beside him, expansive views of the beautiful harbour stretched out before him, and a pool filled with seals gambolling playfully below. In the sweltering heat, the cool, crisp blue of the pool looked inviting and the seals were having a ball of a time, slicing through the water and bursting up with a splash that made nearby viewers squeal. In the distance, Schofield could see the Bataan docked in the harbour’s East Fleet naval base.</p>
<p>Just then, something cold and wet dug into his thigh.</p>
<p>Looking down, Schofield found himself looking down into at face of a little brown seal. The seal’s big brown eyes were soft and Schofield could have sworn she was grinning at him cheekily as she kept nosing at his pockets.</p>
<p>Schofield glanced around – he was quite sure the animals weren’t meant to be wandering freely about – and spotted a keeper jogging over towards him.</p>
<p>“Sorry,” the keeper said, breathless. “She got away from me.”</p>
<p>The keeper was a young woman, looked barely old enough to have finished school, with long dirty blonde hair pulled back in a no-nonsense pony tail, and a wide freckled face. She blew a whistle that Schofield couldn’t hear but evidently the little seal could because she dropped to her belly obediently.</p>
<p>“She’s a bit over-socialised, this one,” the young keeper said, reaching into the container slung around her hips and tossing a fish in front of the seal. “She spent a lot of time with humans when she was younger and now if you take your eyes off her for a second, she’s off to find a friend. Funny though, she usually picks women, not men.”</p>
<p>On the ground, the little seal had scoffed her fish down and was just lying there patiently. Then, she cracked one eye open, as if checking to see if her keeper was watching her, and lifted one front flipper, exposing her belly.</p>
<p>Schofield snuffed a laugh. This he recognised.</p>
<p>Crouching down on his haunches, he gave the seal a quick pat on her stomach.</p>
<p>He was reminded forcefully of another Antarctic fur seal who had liked having her belly rubbed, and the young girl who was her friend. Over the years, he had often wondered what had happened to Kirsty Hensleigh. She had been a tough kid, despite everything she had been through even before Wilkes. The last time he had seen her, she had been smiling with her hand clutched in James Renshaw’s, already bouncing back from her latest trauma. She was a tough kid, and he hoped life had brought her some joy since then.</p>
<p>This seal was bigger, but then he supposed, it had been some years now and Wendy would have grown a bit. Add a red collar, and this could’ve been –</p>
<p>“Come on Wendy,” the keeper said, “We’ve gotta get going.”</p>
<p>Schofield looked up sharply, as the little seal bounded up onto her front flippers and over to her keeper.</p>
<p>“Did you just say Wendy?” He asked. Both keeper and seal stopped to look back at him. “Her name is Wendy?”</p>
<p>It couldn’t just be a coincidence, could it?</p>
<p>“Wendy?” He repeated, looking straight at her. She barked happily at her name, loped back over to him as fast as her little flippers could manage, and buried her face in his chest. Her shiny black nose was cold, her fur damp all over and she smelt like fish, but Schofield didn’t care. A grin split his face as he scratched her behind her ears. “Hey girl, it’s good to see you again.”</p>
<p>Schofield looked up to find a very confused zoo keeper staring straight back at him.</p>
<p>“You know my seal?” She asked.</p>
<p>With a laugh, Schofield nodded. <br/>
“This seal came off the USS Wasp, right?” He said,</p>
<p>“Yeah,” the keeper replied. “Since their habitat is in the Antarctic waters just south of Australia, New Zealand and South America, they dropped her off here for rehabilitation during a stopover. It was a few years back now.”</p>
<p>“I know,” Schofield said, “I was on that ship.”</p>
<p>He smiled, a little wistful, still stroking his hands down Wendy’s flanks.</p>
<p>“Not when she was dropped off,” he added, “just when she arrived on the Wasp. I had no idea she had ended up here. You know, this seal saved my life.”</p>
<p>Wendy stuck her nose into his pocket.</p>
<p>“She’s looking for fish,” the keeper said. She pulled a handful from her hip container and, crouching down beside him and Wendy, she offered them to Schofield. “Sounds like she’s earned them.”</p>
<p>The fish were slimy and they stank, but Schofield took them gladly. Wendy hopped about in excitement as he tossed them to her, one at a time.<br/>
She caught every last one.</p>
<p>“Wendy was supposed to be released back into the wild after she’d been checked over by our vets,” the keeper explained, “but after her time at the research station, and then on the Wasp, she’d become a bit too friendly with humans by then. We did release her, but after the third time she was caught trying to break into a beachside caravan park, it was decided she might be better off coming to live here permanently before she got herself hurt or into trouble.”</p>
<p>She directed the last few words at Wendy, in fond reproach.<br/>
Wendy just barked happily in reply, blowing a big gust of fishy breath right in their faces.</p>
<p>“Now she’s part of our breeding program,” the keeper said. “We were actually on our way up to the veterinary centre when we ran into you. Wendy is getting an ultrasound. She’s pregnant with her second pup.”</p>
<p>“You’re pregnant?” Schofield asked the little seal, as though she would answer him. He reached forward and gave her another quick rub on her belly. “Well done girl.”</p>
<p>He could have sworn that Wendy puffed out her chest and smiled proudly.</p>
<p>The keeper stood up, and Schofield followed suit.</p>
<p>“Yep,” she said, pointing out over the edge of the platform to the pool below. She pointed at one of the seals who had just launched himself out of the water. “That’s her first pup, Pete. He’s nearly two now.”</p>
<p>Schofield didn’t reply, just kept on staring down at the juvenile seal now lying lazily in a patch of sunshine.</p>
<p>It was nice, he thought, to see that normal life went on outside of the string of insane missions that his life had become.<br/>
That sometimes life went on <em>because</em> of those missions.</p>
<p>Maybe when he got back to the states, he would try and track down Kirsty and Renshaw.<br/>
Kirsty would love to know about Wendy, and it would be good to see them.</p>
<p>“We should probably get going,” the keeper said, interrupted his train of thought.</p>
<p>Schofield turned back, gave Wendy one last pat on the head.</p>
<p>“It was good to see you again girl.”</p>
<p>She twisted her head around his hand, forcing him to keep on patting her.</p>
<p>The keeper looked at him knowingly. “Well now you know where she is, you can always come back and visit.”</p>
<p>“I just might do that,” Schofield replied. “I just might.”</p>
<p>As Wendy and her keeper headed away from him, Schofield saw Mother and Book II returning with a towering stack of burgers procured from the nearby food hall.</p>
<p>As she passed one over, Mother stopped short and crinkled her nose.<br/>
Then she sniffed him.</p>
<p>“Why do you smell like fish?”</p>
<p>Schofield laughed. Of all the crazy things that had happened in his life, this was only one more.</p>
<p>“You are not going to believe who I just saw.”<br/>
<br/>
</p>
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